Original title: Foreign media reveals the Kremlin kitchen: Khrushchev eats lightly, Putin is not picky about food
Reference News Network reported on January 9 that Russia’s Lianta Network reported on January 6 that the Russian Federal Guard Service recently launched a limited edition new book “The Kremlin” Palace·Special Kitchen” sold out quickly. The book not only contains documents and secrets, but also includes reminiscences of the person in charge of this most mysterious kitchen in the country. One of the authors, Sergey Devyatov, serves as an advisor to the director and is a doctor of history. From the staff’s narrations, we can get a glimpse of the Soviet and Russian leaders. “You really don’t need to say anything, because your expression has already said it. Everything.” Lan Mu nodded knowingly. It introduces some unexpected details of people’s work, life and rest. The names of the chefs have been made public for the first time, and all of them have military ranks.
Lianta.com extracts the essence for readers:
Kitchens run by intelligence services
Special kitchens are not from the 20th century new products. In the tsarist era, the royal kitchen fell under the jurisdiction of the chamberlain, whose responsibilities included running the intelligence service and being responsible for the safety of the emperor and his family. Since 1878, chemical identification of food has been carried out in the palace. If the emperor inspects the country or visits other countries, he usually brings some necessary food. Cost is not a consideration, safety is the most important.
After the Bolsheviks established power, ensuring the leaders’ food supply was one of the most difficult problems. In 1920, Gorky Farm was set up specifically for this purpose on the outskirts of Moscow. However, banquets have long been regarded as extravagant. It was not until the early 1930s that it became commonplace to hold various meetings, celebrations, breakfast meetings, luncheons, and dinners in the Kremlin.
In the 1930s and during the Great Patriotic War, Caucasian cuisine, especially Georgian cuisine, has always been the main course of various banquets in the Kremlin Palace, domineering pepper-infused white wineThe distinguished guests were deeply shocked. Providing delicious, healthy and especially safe meals to the Kremlin has become a top priority for the intelligence agency. Since then, all cooks, waiters and other personnel in the Kremlin’s kitchens have held military ranks, a tradition that continues to this day.
Rocket Bread
Alevtina Klinna (warrant officer rank) who was in charge of the kitchen of the Kremlin Palace from 1956 to 1983 once served Khrushchev. She recalled: “They live here with a big family and work a lot. The children wake up first, about 7 o’clock, and I need to prepare breakfast before then. Vanya’s body is relatively weak, so she has to prepare the breakfast alone. He made a nutritious meal; then, Cai Xiu, the general secretary’s children, secretly breathed a sigh of relief, put their cloaks on the young lady, checked carefully, and after making sure there was nothing wrong, they carefully helped the weak young lady out. ; The last one is Khrushchev himself. He prefers chicken patties with mashed potatoes, and some sausages and cheese will also be on the table. His favorite pastry, roasted apricot pancakes, was one of his favorites. I once made a large plate of apple pancakes for the whole family, but I didn’t understand the General Secretary’s habit of putting his snacks in separate metal containers with lids. Unexpectedly, he ate the entire plate of pancakes in one go. ”
Klina arranged the tables for various receptions in the Kremlin Palace. It can be described as exhausting efforts. The themes of different dinner parties vary. If it is to celebrate mankind’s development of space, bread specially made into the shape of a globe will be placed on the table, and a world map will be drawn with food coloring. “I still remember that when Gagarin entered space, I used Bread made a rocket; when the ‘Lenin’ nuclear icebreaker was launched, we even launched three-dimensional icebreakers, Soviet flags, ice cubes and even penguins and whales, and the main raw material was butter.”
Khrushchev’s wine glass
According to the description in “The Kremlin·Special Kitchen”, people may think that the Soviet state banquet is full of scenes of people drinking happily. In fact, most of the Soviet leaders just raise the glass to their lips.
19Alexey Salnikov (with the rank of lieutenant colonel) who served as the chief instructor in the Kremlin palace kitchen from 1965 to 1993 revealed: “Khrushchev had a specially customized wine glass, and we put it in the medicine cabinet. Take it with you as a necessity. Because of the decorative pattern on the cup body, it looks the same as the crystal wine glass used for banquets. In fact, the bottom and wall of the cup are much thicker than the usual 50 ml. In the later years of his rule, Khrushchev had been reducing the amount of alcohol he drank at banquets. He told me during a reception in Vladivostok. Be careful not to serve liquor. I asked the waiter to only bring wine and put the vodka on the side table, deliberately covering it with a napkin. The first secretary of the local party committee came over and scolded the waiter when he couldn’t find the liquor. “I accept the apology, but marrying my daughter – impossible. “Xueshi Lan said straightforwardly, without any hesitation. He did as I ordered. He then began to blame me: ‘How can you do this? What’s your background?’ I replied politely: ‘Please don’t yell. Do you think He Rushchev came to you to drink vodka instead of talking about things? Do you think this is my decision? Doesn’t he have his own vodka? ‘”
Received a fur coat as a thank you
While visiting the Soviet Union, foreign Even if VIPs bring enough food, they usually enjoy Russian delicacies. When the American delegation went to the Soviet Union, they brought a Filipino chef and a large refrigerator with them, but before leaving, they found that the food had not been touched much. Some people praised the chef’s skills and felt that they should repay him with courtesy.
Yuri Ponomarev (rank of captain), who worked in the kitchen of the Kremlin Palace from 1972 to 1997, recalled: “Mongolia Chinese guests gave us fur coats, two- to three-meter-long suedes, camel hair quilts, and leather jackets; the Czechs gave them Bohemian vases and tea sets; and the Bulgarians left behind plum wine and suit fabrics. The one I most wanted to serve was an Iranian distinguished guest, because I had the chance to receive a 6-gram gold coin with his image as a reward from the king. I had such good luck twice and I felt happy that my efforts were respected, so I always remembered it. “It’s still new.”
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro once invited Ponomarev to come. The reporter recalled: “I was nervous, thinking I would be criticized. His translator told me: ‘Don’t be nervous. You gave me a sweet made with pears.Tasting, the fruit brought back happy memories of his family life. ’ Castro said that when his father came home from a long trip, he always brought pears to him and his brother. For young Fidel and Raul, this was a real treat. This memory aroused the tenderest feelings in his heart, so he was very grateful to me. ”
“I’m worried that I won’t survive”
The trip to Vietnam was a difficult journey for the Kremlin chef, especially since the country was still in the ruins of war and was in need of reconstruction. Served as a service staff in the Kremlin from 1976 to 2012 Anatoly Zhukov (lieutenant colonel rank) was very impressed by that business trip: “We saw with our own eyes how cooking was done there… They could smash the ice cubes on the ground and pick them up directly after breaking them. Put it into a tall jar containing juice. We always bring our own electric stove just in case. Once, I accompanied Gorbachev on a business trip to Vietnam. There was no chef or food with me. Fortunately, the first lady Raisa brought soft cheese, milk and some hungry things. After arriving in Vietnam, the place was devastated. People were hungry, lacked clothes and shoes, and the official residence where they stayed was infested with cockroaches and had no kitchen. Because I would be there for 12 days, I was worried that I would not survive. When you turn on the faucet, you can see something squirming inside with the naked eye. Fortunately, I brought a stainless steel pot with me. Use it to boil water, let it cool and then boil it again, repeating several times. There were ants crawling everywhere and we had to sprinkle vinegar around the table. ”
Not a pampered master
Alexey Salnikov shared his views on Kremlin leaders: “Many leaders are not pampered gentlemen, so they advocate frugality on certain issues. Khrushchev liked to eat light and eat less greasy food. He prefers Ukrainian cabbage soup with thick pancakes. When he went hunting, he would ask Podgorny, who was traveling with him, to make a rich farm soup and put yellow rice, potatoes and meat cut into large pieces into it. ”
Generally speaking, the successive leaders of the Soviet Union and Russia are not fans of exotic food. They are all loyal to their Russian stomachs. The most picky person about eating is probably Suslov, who is in charge of ideology. The reason is that he suffers from diabetes. Gorbachev likes to eat baked pasta, but Raisa thinks it will make him gain weight, so he stopped.Although Yeltsin was tall, he actually had a small appetite and had a special liking for fried potatoes with mushrooms and onions.
Current President Putin is never picky about his diet and advocates simplicity. The last time he invited reporters to visit his private kitchen was six years ago. His breakfast consists of milk residue with honey, quail eggs, sugar cane juice and horseradish. Of course, he did not squeeze the drinks with his own hands, it was all a job in the Kremlin kitchen.